


Not all Mothers are The Ones We Know

by RealityXIllusion



Category: Shazam! (2019)
Genre: Billy Batson deserves a Family, Billy is nervous, Billy-centric, Complete, Family Drama, Family Feels, Gift Giving, Mother's Day, billy needs a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-02 08:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18807880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RealityXIllusion/pseuds/RealityXIllusion
Summary: It's time for Billy's first Mother's Day at the Vasquez household, he isn't really nervous...Not a lot at least.





	Not all Mothers are The Ones We Know

It was Mother's Day and he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do. For the past week, all he's been hearing from the others was how they all needed to make Rosa something for Mother's Day. Mary told them how she was going to work with Victor on making a huge breakfast of all of Rosa's favorite foods.

Eugene created a movie on his computer from a bunch of pictures he says he had on his phone. Pedro helped him with the gift by making a soundtrack to go along with it.

Darla spent roughly two days making a huge Banner wishing Rosa a Happy Mother's Day and decorating it with glitter as well as pictures of all of them. Billy wasn't sure where she had gotten the picture of him from but he didn't ask her to take it off the banner.

It looked nice, seeing his picture on there with the rest of the family. It looked like he actually belonged there with them.

Freddy apparently had money saved up and pre-ordered a large bouquet of flowers for Rosa along with one of those Edible Arrangements. Billy wasn't sure where he had gotten the money from but Freddy had assured him that it was all just savings from doing chores over the years.

According to the others Victor was going to take Rosa out to dinner Saturday night for a date night. All in all, it seems as though everyone had a gift for her already while Billy was the only one who had no idea what he was going to do.

Or if he even should do something.

Mother's day… Mother's Day was not a holiday that he had celebrated before. Of course, he had been at a couple of foster homes during the holiday but that usually just resulted in his foster parents going out while he was left at home. Most of the time Billy was fine with keeping to himself while his foster parents celebrate the holiday with their actual kids. Some days though it got to be too much and he just left while they were all busy.

He could remember having one couple as his foster parents for a day before Mother's Day, and apparently despite never having kids the fact that they had him at their house a day before the holidays seem to be an excuse enough for the couple to feel as though they were his actual parents. If he was being honest it was sort of disturbing how attached they were to him. They acted as though there was no sort of boundaries between them and more often than not Billy found himself having to lock himself in his room at their house in order to get away from them.

That was one foster home he was glad to leave behind.

Only now he wished he paid more attention to what others did on Mother's Day, maybe then he would actually have an idea about what sort of gift he could get for Rosa. Because at the moment, it would seem that she was going to get a gift from everyone except for him.

It wasn't as though she was his actual mom or anything but she was the closest thing he had. Even if it took him a while to admit that to himself, he knew it was true. His actual mother was more of a stranger to him then Rosa was.

Rosa cared about him.

Anytime he had issues at school she would always try talking to him, she would praise him when he did something well or got a good grade. She would always smile at him gently, give him a hug even if he didn't always hug her back and she treated him as though he was actually her son.

Even if she wasn't his mom, he still wanted to get her something because she deserved it. If for some reason getting her a gift for Mother's Day upset her then he could always brush it off as saying it was a thank you gift for letting him stay with them this long.

It's already been roughly five months since he came here and they have yet to make him leave. He has yet to even want to leave. Sure he's had some ups and downs staying here, occasionally having to hide up in his and Freddy's bedroom because all of the attention just got to be too much, but the good outweighed the bad.

He liked it here.

It's because of how much he liked it there that he came to a decision. He didn't exactly have anyone he could ask or talk about Mother's Day with. He knew that Freddy, Mary, Pedro, Eugene, and even Darla would have been all willing to help him come up with a gift idea but he just wasn't comfortable going to them about it.

Which was why on Saturday, the day before Mother's Day, while Victor took Rosa out on their dinner date Billy snuck out of the house.

He wasn't sure where he would go, he didn't have a specific place in mind so he simply set off walking and let his body lead him to wherever it wanted to go. He needed time to think without the risk of any of the others walking in on him and distracting him. He would need to make sure that he got back to the house before Victor and Rosa but they only left a few minutes ago. If what Mary was saying was right then he would have at least three hours before they would come back to the house.

He didn't exactly know where he was going but when he first felt water hit his head Billy stopped and looked up at the sky. It was starting to rain. Cursing lightly under his breath he quickly pulled up his hood and glanced around him. There were a few stores still open, the only one that seemed large enough where workers wouldn't immediately try talking to him was grocery store across the street.

Barely stopping to look both ways Billy quickly jogged across the street and made his way into the store. A few workers off to the side glanced up at him as he came inside but that was it.

Keeping his head tucked down after lowering his hood, Billy quickly walked down a random aisle.

Billy smiled softly when he saw it. There, sitting by itself, obviously on the wrong shelf, was a decent-sized plush of Stitch from Lilo & Stitch holding a giant red heart that said Happy Mother's Day on it. One of its ears were lopsided, and its eyes were a tad too large but to Billy, it was perfect.

Rosa would probably love it.

He tried to walk away from it, it's not like he actually had any money to go spend but no matter how far he walked Billy always found himself turning back around and heading towards the toy once more. He just couldn't leave it there.

Biting his lip as he stood there like an idiot, Billy quickly started going through the pockets of his jacket. It was his only jacket he owns, if he had any change at all on him then it would be in this jacket.

It took him a minute or two to actually come across some money. He was worried that he actually didn't have any on him but thankfully he still had some leftover from the money he earned as Shazam. It wasn't exactly money he wanted to use, the way he earned that money… thinking back on it he was disgusted with how he acted. A hero shouldn't go around trying to earn money by using his abilities like that. Not to mention showing off the way he did put innocent people in danger. Of course, he doesn't do it anymore but that doesn't change the fact that he had done it.

Shaking his head to dislodge those thoughts, Billy held a couple of bills he found tightly in his fists as he snatched the Stitch plush off the shelf.

Spinning on his heel and quickly marching over to the cash register before he could try and convince himself not to get it, Billy practically threw Stitch at the cashier. Causing the man to give him a look as he turned Stitch over to find the price tag and scan it.

"That'll be ten dollars."

Billy quickly handed over the crumpled bills to the cashier and watched with his heart lodged in his throat as the man frowned while he counted the bills.

"You only handed me seven dollars, Stitch costs ten. Since it's a Mother's Day gift we aren't doing tax for them." The cashier said glancing away from the total on the register to look at Billy.

"Oh…" Billy muttered.

What was he supposed to do? He didn't have any more change on him, he couldn't exactly ask the cashier to just up and give the toy to him. He didn't want to risk him getting the cashier fired not to mention he didn't even know if the cashier was willing to do that for him. He could always say he was going to put it back on the shelf and just try to sneak it out of the store. Only… he couldn't do that. Maybe in the past, he would have done that but he was a hero now. Heroes don't go around stealing stuffed animals from stores.

He turned around as someone gently tapped him on the shoulder.

Billy's eyes widened in shock, "M-" he quickly closed his mouth, glancing over at the cashier who was watching them intently before looking back over at his mom of all people.

It was a public grocery store, and now that he thought about it, it was in her area.

"Are you… are you getting that for the woman you're saying with?" She asked, not once moving her eyes from the embroidered lettering on the heart Stitch held.

Billy's face flushed. What was he supposed to say in this situation? Was he supposed to just tell his mom that he was buying a Mother's Day gift for his foster parent? She was the one who wouldn't even let him hug her when he finally found her after so many years… he shouldn't feel bad about this… and yet he did.

"I, uh…"

His mom turned away from him instead of looking over at the cashier who was glancing between her and him with barely concealed concern.

"Is… is everything alright here ma'am?" The cashier asked Billy noticed how he seemed to be only looking at Billy when he asks that.

Billy slowly nodded his head.

"Of course," His mom smiled, before gesturing towards the register, "I overheard you say that he was short some change right? How much does he still owe you?"

"Uh, three dollars?"

Billy could only watch, wanting to speak up but not knowing what to say, as his mom quickly handed over a five dollar bill and picked up the Stitch, staring at it while the cashier finished ringing up the transaction.

She turned towards him and held the toy out to him.

Biting his lip, Billy looked away as he took it from her, he couldn’t bring himself to meet her eyes. He didn’t even understand what was going on. Why was his mom here, why was she here helping him? He thought she wanted nothing to do with him…

“Billy?”

Looking up, Billy saw how his mom was holding the receipt and how the cashier was already ringing up the next customer. “Uh, y-yeah?”

“Did you walk here?”

Billy hesitantly nodded his head.

“Is it…” His mom frowned, “It’s raining pretty heavily, could I… Is it okay if I give you a ride home?”

It was for just a second. Just a mere second his heart skipped a beat. Hearing his mom offer to drive him home… For a second he had hope flair inside of him. For a second he thought she meant to take him back to her house, but he knew… he knew that wasn’t what she meant.

“Billy?”

“Yeah,” Billy coughed, clearing his throat, “I-If you’re okay with it then… yeah. I, I can use a ride.”

His mom smiled, “Okay, follow me.”

So he did.

He followed her out to a dark blue sedan, the back seats had papers all over them and a few empty bags as well. He eyed the empty coffee cups and food containers as he made his way into the passenger seat of the car. He waited until his mom sat down in the driver's seat and started the car. He waited but she didn’t pause to tell him to put on his seat belt like he had waited for her too.

Frowning, Billy quickly got buckled, glancing over and noticing how his mom didn’t get buckled as she did a K-turn out of the parking lot.

“Uh, m-mom?” Billy spoke up, “You didn’t put on your seatbelt.”

She turned towards him, and the look on her face was more than enough to tell him how ridiculous she thought what he said was but thankfully she slowed down in order to pull her seatbelt around her.

The car ride back to the Vasquez household was silent, there wasn’t even any music coming from the radio. Billy tightened his hold on Stitch as he held him closer to his chest.

It was suffocating sitting there in the car.

The moment she parked just outside the house, still in the street instead of the driveway, Billy quickly climbed out of the car.

"Billy wait!"

He turned around as the window to his mom's car quickly lowered. He bent down some to look inside it and found at the look on his mom's face that he wanted nothing more to do than to climb back into the car and hug her.

"Here," he watched as his mom pulled some paper out from the backseat and scrambled to find a pen from her purse. He didn't know what she was writing but it seemed to be a series of numbers, "This is… it's my phone number. I know that you know where I live but just in case… just in case you ever wanted to talk or anything. I don't know, but I wouldn't mind hearing from you sometime?"

Billy wanted to ask her why. Why now, why now when he was finally starting to feel as though he belonged here at the Vasquez household. Why did she suddenly decide after five months that she wanted to be a mom to him now?

First, she crushed any hope he had at having a family again and now she was trying to offer to be in his life after deciding all those years ago that she didn't want to be?

Not saying a word and not meeting her eyes, Billy quietly leaned in and took the papers from her outstretched hand.

"Goodnight Billy."

"Goodnight mom," Watching her car drive off, Billy whispered, "Happy Mother's Day…."

Turning around towards the house Billy quickly stuffed the plush under his jacket. He didn't want to risk any of the others seeing him with it. He made sure to avoid them all as he raced up the stairs to his and Freddy's bedroom. Thankfully Freddy wasn't in the room, Billy emptied out his book bag selling all of his school supplies on the floor and shoving them slightly underneath of Freddy's bed. He stuffed Stitch into his bag and zipped it shut.

It wasn't that late but for some reason, he felt exhausted. He climbed up into his bed after quickly getting changed into clean clothes and kicking off his shoes.

Tomorrow he would give Rosa her gift. Tomorrow he would wish her a happy Mother's Day and thank her for letting him be her son in every sense of the word.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Mothers Day everyone!


End file.
